When starting a vehicle, a driver checks the safety in surroundings of the vehicle. To assist such a driver, a proximity monitor device as a drive assist system displays a video imaging an area towards which the vehicle advances.
Patent document 1 discloses a technology which assists in checking safety by displaying video of areas rearward of the vehicle when a shift position is switched to a reverse gear position.
Patent document 2 discloses a technology which assists in checking safety by displaying videos taken by in-vehicle cameras, which photograph the surroundings (front, rear, sides) of the vehicle, according to a user's switch operation. Here, the switch operation can select either “display” or “not display,” and, further, one of “front,” “rear,” and “sides” as the displayed area.
Further, Patent document 3 discloses a parking assist system used in a rearward parking or the like. Here, a vehicle is first guided to a guide area, from which the vehicle is then moved rearward towards an individual parking space. Thereafter, subsequent necessary operations of the shift position, steering wheel, or the like for the rearward parking are announced to the driver.
However, the above drive assist systems still need to be improved to decrease a driver's load.                Patent document 1: JP-A-2000-127851        Patent document 2: JP-A-2003-163925        Patent document 3: JP-A-2003-104        